Inchnadamph Weekend - Photo Gallery

It was a sunny Friday evening in Inchnadamph when I arrived at the hostel after making a 10-hour journey to get there; the indeterminate forecast for the weekend generated a lively debate amongst a larger than normal group about what hills to climb on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday morning arrived brightly, although it was breezy and there was plenty of cloud covering the tops. I had already made my decision about where I was going, whether anybody came with me or not; in the end I had just a single companion. I walked from the hostel car park on to a good track by the side of a river to Glenbain, an unexpected place to find an inhabited house.

I carried on along the obvious path, until just before a footbridge, where there was a not very obvious turn; a smaller path took me up Gleann Dubh by the side f River Traligill. It was a nice walk in the sunshine up a very attractive valley, but I didn't really feel as though I was getting anywhere. The path ecame less obvious, but the mist cleared enough to see the col that I knew I would eventually have to climb up to. There was a path up to the col, by the side of a Allt a'Choinne Mhill; it was a messy muddy start up a proper Scottish mudbank, Scottish mud is the densest liquid on earth. My foot sank into the mud, deeper than I expected and I had to put my hand down to try to support myself; it went into the mud up to my wrist, I would have squashed a frog if it hadn't jumped out from underneath me.

The mist was clearing all the time, it was a very attractive valley that I had walked up, and now that I was gaining height the views were improving all the time; there were splendid shapely hills rising from the loch-filled landscape. There were deer grazing on the hill on the other side of the stream valley, in the photo I took they appear to be showing an unusual lack of interest, but the stag had definitely seen us.

On the climb upwards by the side of the stream, there were brilliant white quartz rocks, shot through with pink veins; very attractive stepping stones in the very Scottish mud. The whole mountain is made of shiny pink/white quartz, and after the grassy steepness up to a broad shoulder there was rocky clamber around some significant steep white cliffs. After a brief rest we carried on upwards to the bealach between Beinn an Fhurain and Conival.

At the bealach we turned right, up a consistently rising path, across quartz rocks whilst ascending up to the broad summit ridge of Conival. As we were contemplating the mist, it was still covering the ridge, we were joined by somebody else, a young German woman. She was touring Scotland and sleeping in a camper van, she had started to climb the hill without map or compass, and I think she was glad of some moral support as we headed up into the mist. It became increasingly rugged as we carried on upwards; we finally caught up to the mist at the final rugged clamber over large, white crystalline boulders up to the summit shelter.

We had had good Views back to Beinn an Fhurain, and its previously unseen loch, as we approached the summit of Conival; it stayed misty while we were at the summit but cleared almost as soon as we left it. As we started to descend, Ben More Assynt still covered in mist, but it was clearing rapidly, and was completely gone before we started climbing again as we had a good view of the classic broad ridge. There was no grass to be seen on the ridge, it was straightforward walking on easy, although stony, ground on the broad quartz crest; I took the opportunity for some gratuitous scrambling instead of keeping to path. It was a rugged walk to a false summit, with a final steep climb over larger white rocks to the real top of Ben More Assynt.

Our grateful passenger decided that reaching the summit of a second Munro was good enough, but we carried on to descend the south ridge. The ridge was grassier than the ascent but there were some awkward moments, a small path clung precariously to the steep slope above a steep drop, and then there was a scramble on a small exposed ridge. All too soon the excitement was over, and it was a straightforward walk up a grassy slope, to the south top and down again to a col. There was another walk up to the final rise on the ridge; it was important to turn right at the right time to descend a broad green, steep ridge, and to turn right towards Dubh Loch Mor.

After the initial steep grassy descent, the soft ground was mossy with hidden holes and pools of water; it was typical deer pasture, and we caught glimpses of the herd keeping out of our way. Dubh Loch Mor is an attractive little loch in a magnificent corrie, the ground was wild and untrodden, difficult to walk across, but we did find occasional traces of a path heading up to Bealach Traligill. There was then a faint path, clinging to the steep slopes, before we eventually had to get down to the glen; it took much longer than I expected to reach the path, it was hard work across swampy ground, long grass and peat hags before we finally got back to the track.

Sunday arrived raining heavily, and the planned climb of Arkle was quickly abandoned in favour of a wet weather alternative; if we were going to get wet and not see much, it might as well be on less interesting hills. We drove round to Kinloch Brae on the A838, I have no idea where that road goes; the cloud base was very low and the ground looked exceedingly wet. We walked up by the side of a plantation, and when the ground levelled, carried on along a wet path in thick mist; eventually we reached the landmark Lochan and cairn, in the middle of nowhere.

We made an awkward traverse and then a descent on pathless rough, swampy ground to join an even rougher stalkers path near a waterfall. We made the long slog, up a green slope in heavy rain, to the summit of Beinn Leoid; we didn't stay long efore walking back down to the bealach. I was suffering a lack of enthusiasm on yet another steep green slope, but there was a welcome rockier final climb to summit of Meallan a'Chuaill. The descent was also rocky with some awkward steps at first; we carried on down, it was mainly grassy and much further down than it looked.

We walked across a typical boggy deer pasture to a stream; after an awkward crossing we had an ascent on soft ground to Meall an Fheur Loch. It was an easier gradient going down but it was a long way once the path disappeared into long wet grass; it did stop raining eventually

© Andy Wallace 1st & 2nd August 2009